Arrogant message to Palestine
IN AN age of disinformation and “fake news” the work of journalists has never been more important. Our job is to distinguish fact from fiction, while shining a light into the dark crevices which are, too often, ignored.
Sometimes we do this work at great risk to ourselves, as we seek to give an accurate account of history.
When Shireen Abu Akleh started work on Wednesday morning, she could not have imagined it would be her last day covering events in occupied Palestine.
Abu Akleh had built a career covering mostly Palestine, first as a print journalist and then graduating to television news, where she earned the admiration of her fellow Palestinians and Al Jazeera’s pan-Arabic audience.
While covering a raid by the Israeli Defence Force on the Jenin refugee camp, located at the north of the West Bank along with several other journalists, Abu Akleh was shot in the head.
Immediately, without any investigating, Israel and its satellites across the world blamed the Palestinians inside Jenin for Abu Akleh’s killing.
Her death is not the first attack on media workers inside the occupied territories, and some would say it was a deliberate act by the IDF to target journalists.
Almost a year to the day, the IDF flattened a tower block in Gaza which housed the offices of Al Jazeera, the Associated Press, and several other media organisations. Despite this, and even after Abu Akleh’s killing, the work of journalism continues in Palestine and the occupied territories.
While Israel makes peace with Arab dictatorships across the Middle East, in exchange for security co-operation and guarantees, the Palestinians are systematically being dispossessed of their land.
Instead of sitting at the table with them, Israel has used its hi-tech weapons to brutally oppress Palestinians, perhaps hoping that they will cower and eventually vanish into thin air.
Abu Akleh’s death was not just a message to journalists covering the conflict, but also to ordinary Palestinians – that the levels of arrogance and impunity by the IDF know no bounds, even when it comes to killing a journalist.
So much for the only democracy in the Middle East.